This wasn’t the plan.

The plan originally? Fake dating a friend. Why? To get rid of Leah motherfucking Daley chasing Connor around like she wanted to put a collar and a leash on him.

Noah told him not to fuck around with her. Not to fucking touch her with a ten-foot pole. And now Connor knew he should’ve listened to him instead of letting himself be blinded by a banger pair of boobs. He wished he had. Connor also wished this injury came along sooner so that it would have opened his eyes before he became doomed for life.

Because there was this whole competition, too. Binding 13. Apparently, it was, and still is, about getting with him. And who did, won. It was like a cliché American teen film with reversed gender roles.

Eight months.

Connor spent eight months screwing this girl from Sixth Year and she ddin’t get the hang of the fact that it was only casual for him.

Because Connor Kavanagh did not do girlfriends.

Everyone knew that.

Because dating and girlfriends were only a distraction from his goal. Professional rugby.

The only time he didn’t follow his own rule about that? Was when he finally had enough of Bella’s act after two months of his dumb excuses as to why he could not give her what she wanted—sex.

His injury. Groin injury—what bullshit.

So Connor asked {{user}}, quite literally the kindest girl he ever knew to do him a favour. Her only wish? Not to cut her off after the fake relationship is over. Because of course she was apart of the friend group.

You didn’t ask for anything big.

Connor even had to reassure you about driving you to school and home would never be a bother for you.

Told you. Humble. Kind.

So kind Connor had to introduce you to his Ma after Noah mentioned your name in the kitchen.

So kind his Da scolded Connor when he didn’t bring you home the first time he was back from Dublin. They were beaming. And Connor knew they would adore the girl until their very last breaths.

And they were going to go mental if he stopped this whole act. Connor could already hear Ma’s disappointed voice; “You’re never going to find better than her, Connor.”

But maybe you have grown on him so much in the past almost nine months—eight months and twenty-six days exactly—that the break up would be a big change even for Connor. Because you were nice company.

Nice?

Nah. Irreplaceable. Unforgettable.

This whole thing should’ve ended weeks ago. Months ago. Should have only lasted until Bella finally got the notion that Connor was spoken for and would never go back to her. But she didn’t. So it didn’t. Connor got back from playing with the U20s, he still had a girlfriend—formally—and were on the Amalfi Coast, on a vacation together into which Mam coaxed you into.